Saturday, August 18, 2018

The Mother of All Twitter Battles:Tom Woods versus Rapper Talib Kweli

There is a massive twitter battle going on between Tom Woods and rapper Talib Kweli.Talin is apparently taking Tom to task for speaking in front of a southern group about 100 years ago.A taste from the battle ground:

Tom Woods:You're used to dealing with people who debase themselves. Ohh, I'm white and this black rapper is angry at me! I'd better make him happy. Ain't happening. About time someone stood his ground against ignoramuses. You're used to dealing with people who debase themselves. Ohh, I'm white and this black rapper is angry at me! I'd better make him happy.

Tom should say he is willing to talk before any group, including the Black Panthers--in front of a picture of Angela Davis even though he doesn't agree with her communist position. He is a damn communicator of ideas. Why wouldn't he want to communicate his ideas of liberty to any group?

10 comments:

Tom should invite him onto his show! That would be a hoot and a half! Bring Bob on for a Karaoke duet with your new friend.

I like Tom a lot and think he is one of the sharpest tools in the Liberty Shed. As a fellow Anarcho-Catholic-Capitalist I think I align closely with much of his thinking, and I always give careful consideration to any points of disagreement I may have with him.

That said, I am also a musician in the SF bay area swimming in a sea of confused artsy commies echoing nonsense to each other, and I am not sure that Tom knows how to effectively communicate with these people. Their minds are absolutely riddled with landmines that will trigger a chain reaction that is very difficult to get ahead of once you step on one. Libertarians (myself included) have a bad habit of jumping on landmines then pointing to the explosions as evidence of our detractors' irrationality. It's a self-indulgent strategy that is only useful on rare occasions.

You're not in a fight here Tom, it's a dance. This is not college, it's junior high. These people were not reasoned into their way of thinking, and they cannot be reasoned out of it.

Libertarians are hung up on thinking what's missing is The Brilliant Argument that cuts through all the noise and makes people understand. That's not the problem. We have plenty of brilliant arguments. The problem is people don't care about our arguments. They don't even take the time to hear them and understand them. They think we're crazy, and they think we're jerks. How many people really take the time to hear and think about what the crazy jerk is saying?

The big hurdle libertarians need to get over with commie artsy leftist types is the image they hold of us in their minds. All they see is a greedy, angry, definitely-not-cool, white guy with a story. They don't care what the story is. Telling it better won't help.

The people who want to shut us up take the time to talk to commie artsy leftists in language they understand. Meanwhile the libertarians are too busy rolling their eyes at all the new genders so hard they throw their backs out to bother.

Outflanking them on the left by talking about cops and war is a good place to start, but that's only a starting point. Tom is real clever, and once he wraps his head around what I'm saying here he will level up big time and become some kind of unstoppable Super Tom.

If you want to convince anyone of anything, I suggest brevity, precisely literal (never figurative) language, and no psychology or religion (both based on the unknowable). These are the basics of The Brilliant Argument which people won't need to take time to understand.

All of psychology is pseudo science guessing. The elephant & rider analogy may describe those who broadcast it, but when they claim that it describes anyone but themselves, they are pretending to know what they have no way of knowing.

I think the best strategy is:You CANNOT change the minds of the truly committed (and stupid). But, as Tom has done here, tease out their positions, ridicule them, and show OTHERS how asinine their ideas are. Forget the real commie jerks. Not worth your time. It's the AUDIENCE you want to provoke. Get them started thinking. Rinse. Repeat.